Global Opportunities

The Global Opportunities (GO) Program is the most ambitious academic initiative in the university’s history. Susquehanna is among the first in the nation to require every student to have a meaningful cross-cultural experience, linked to a rigorous scholarly reflection that will add value to and complement the total educational experience. This program:

Connects practice and experience to scholarly reflection

Integrates multiple disciplines

Fully engages students in learning, preparing them to compete and make a difference in the world and in their communities

HOW IT WORKS

Learning begins with a required written proposal in which each student explains how his or her planned experience will fulfill the learning goals of the cross-cultural requirement. The proposal is reviewed and approved by faculty to ensure that the objectives of the experience will be met.

The experiences take place off campus and may be domestic or international. The experience may be a semester-length (GO Long) program or a minimum two-week (GO Short) program of cultural immersion.

Upon their return to Susquehanna, students must enroll in a two-semester-hour course that provides a scholarly and multi-disciplinary reflection on the experience. It is this additional academic requirement that makes the Susquehanna GO program distinctive in the world of higher education.

This course requires students to:

Demonstrate their understanding of the concept of culture

Articulate differences and similarities between their culture of origin and the one in which they were immersed

Show an analytical awareness of their own cultural values and identity

Recognize how their attitudes, behavior and choices affect their experience

Reflect upon their own personal growth, responsibility and the value of active participation in human society

In most cases the course will result in a scholarly paper, a presentation or both. Some of these will be presented to the campus during an annual day of recognition for the program.

MAKING IT HAPPEN

The Global Opportunities requirement represents nothing less than a monumental commitment by the university. Its impact on students will be transformational. Susquehanna's ability to sustain this commitment depends upon the financial support of alumni, parents and friends to provide the student aid that will keep these remarkable learning experiences affordable.

Gifts are needed at all levels, and may provide direct support for current students or an endowment to guarantee perpetual support.

To find out how your gift can help students have a meaningful cross-cultural experience, please contact:Doug Seaberg Assistant Vice President, University Relations
570-372-4408 seaberg@susqu.edu